Toyota to fix pedals on 4m US vehicles

• Source: Global Times
• [08:24 November 26 2009]
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Japan's Toyota is planning to fix accelerator pedals in around 4 million vehicles in the United States, a media report said Wednesday.

The move was begun due to a risk that loose driver-side floor mats could slip forward and jam the pedals, causing rapid acceleration, Kyodo news agency said.

But Toyota has maintained its position that the gas pedal's shape is not a "defect" and will view the repair as a voluntary measure, against calls by US authorities to carry out a stricter, mandatory recall.

Rie Takano, a spokeswoman for Toyota's head office in Tokyo, said she had nothing to announce about any recall and that she did not know if the firm's US affiliate was scheduled to make an announcement.

Normally US affiliates of foreign car manufacturers make announcements with regard to recall action in the United States.

Toyota began urging users to remove the driver-side floor mats from late September and later issued a "safety recall" for 3.8 million vehicles in seven models in the United States, including the Prius hybrid, Camry and Lexus cars, Kyodo said.

But the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had been urging Toyota to repair the vehicle itself as criticism in the US grew following reports of high-speed crashes involving Toyota vehicles, Kyodo added.

Toyota's US division has made a number of recalls this year, with the latest one on Tuesday concerning 110,000 Toyota Tundra pickup trucks of the 2000-03 models amid concern over corrosion on the vehicle's frame.

AFP